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Video shows moments before Andrew Loku was shot by police

The coroner's inquest into Andrew Loku's death focused Friday on inconsistencies in a witness's statements, including the gender of the officers involved.

Surveillance footage shows part of the events the night police were called to an apartment where a man was reportedly threatening a woman with a hammer. Surveillance footage from inside shows part of the events, but not police shooting Andrew Loku.

Inconsistencies in a key witness account of the Andrew Loku police shooting were the focus Friday at an ongoing coroner’s inquest into his death, where surveillance video of the high-profile encounter was released for the first time, nearly two years after Loku was killed.

Toronto Consts. Andrew Doyle and Haim Queroub were named as the officers involved in the shooting, when police lawyer Gary Clewley had the men rise from their seats in the back row of the court to ask witness Robin Hicks, who was Loku’s neighbour, if she could identify them as the officers she saw arrive on scene that night, which she did not.

In her testimony, which was twice paused for recess after Hicks became emotional, Hicks said she saw a male and female officer arrive, and that the male officer was the one who fired his gun.

But the inquest heard Friday that it was two male officers who responded to the call.

Clewley did not identify which officer shot Loku. When asked by the Star, coroner Dr. John Carlisle, who is overseeing the inquest, did not allow the officer who shot Loku to be identified prior to his testimony.

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Both officers are expected to testify next week.

Surveillance footage shows part of the events from the night Andrew Loku was shot dead, including him holding a hammer and walking toward police in the hallway of his building. (Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Hicks could not explain why she believed one of the officers was a woman, or how her version of events on the stand differed from the account she provided to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ontario’s police watchdog, approximately two hours after the shooting.

In a recorded interview with SIU investigators, Hicks said she didn’t think the shooting “was the officers’ fault,” saying: “I want to set that straight before people start saying things.”

Asked by an SIU investigator what the officers’ options were, Hicks said: “shoot or probably get a hammer in the head by the looks of it.”

But Hicks said she was in shock at the time of the interview with the SIU and maintains that she was never afraid of Loku, but afraid for him.

“I’ve never seen him like that before. His eyes were glossy and he was just really upset and I’d never seen him like that,” she testified Friday.

Surveillance video of the minutes immediately before the fatal shooting corroborate Hicks’ account — both on the stand and in past interviews with the Star and other media — that she left her apartment and walked toward the commotion, then Loku came back to her unit, walking away from the neighbours he is accused of threatening.

Loku, 45, was shot dead by police on July 5, 2015 inside an apartment building at 502 Gilbert Ave. Officers had been summoned to the building by a 911 call from neighbours in the apartment directly above Loku’s, saying he had come upstairs carrying a hammer and was threatening to kill someone.

Within five minutes of the 911 call, Loku was shot. The SIU, which probed the death, did not charge the officer who fired at Loku, ruling the officer killed Loku on the belief he was about to attack him with a hammer.

At the time of the shooting, Hicks lived in an apartment one floor above Loku, and down the hall from the unit where residents were in a dispute with Loku. She testified that, on the night of the shooting, she heard a commotion so she exited her apartment with her friend, Reg Lamontagne, her son and her son’s friend.

Surveillance footage from a camera in the hallway shows Hicks and company looking down to the end of the hallway, where Loku, off camera, is arguing with the residents. Hicks, Lamontagne and a friend of Hicks’ son leave the apartment and walk down the hall, going off camera.

She testified Friday that she could smell alcohol on his breath, and that Loku was holding a hammer, banging on the walls, and complaining about the noise. Loku had previously complained to Hicks about the noise coming from the apartment directly above him.

The surveillance video then shows Hicks, Lamontagne and a friend of Hicks’ son walk back to Hicks’ apartment, with Loku following behind a few minutes later, stopping at Hicks’ door but not going inside her apartment, a hammer in his right hand.

Hicks goes inside her unit, while Lamontagne stands at the door with his hands at his side as Loku gestures with the hammer while he speaks. The video has no sound, so it is not possible to hear what he is saying.

Hicks told the SIU that while Loku did not threaten her, she was afraid he was going to attack her. She testified Friday, however, that she was instead scared for Loku.

In the video, Hicks then walks into the hallway again, sees police arriving off camera, motions at Loku, who begins walking toward unseen police at the end of the hall. He bumps into the wall as he moves slowly toward them, appearing at one point to shrug. The video shows Hicks walk back in her apartment.

Loku can be seen gripping up on the hammer in his right hand, gesticulating with both hands as he walks out of the camera frame.

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